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Haley was grateful to note that Victor Lamb’s office boasted a little more legroom than the conference room she’d occupied during her first two visits to the police station, although the added space appeared to be more the consequence of his undersized furniture rather than any increase in square footage.
Victor waved her in from his position behind the desk. “It seems you’ve turned into the police department’s biggest informer,” he quipped.
Haley took a seat in one of the two visitor chairs. “What can I say? Apparently I have a knack for putting myself into dangerous situations.”
A smile pulled at the corners of Victor’s mouth. “Well, you’re certainly turning out to be a better detective than anybody on my force.” He glanced at the open door and lowered his voice. “Don’t tell Brian.”
Haley grinned, remembering how happy she had been to finally meet Brian Holstead two days ago. Recently briefed by his chief on Luke’s potential involvement in criminal activity, Brian had apprehended his partner when he’d attempted to escape during Victor’s search for Haley. Luke had already been handcuffed and sitting behind the grid of Brian’s police car when Haley and Victor had emerged from his house.
The sight of Luke had fueled Haley’s rage, not just over him holding her hostage but also for his role in Michael’s death. The tirade she’d unleashed had stunned all three men into silence. After her anger had subsided, Brian had driven off with Luke, leaving her alone with Victor and his gentle questions that had eventually persuaded her to confess her real motive for moving to Sobaco.
“Where did Brian take Luke?” Haley asked now.
“They booked him in Eugene,” Victor said. “You’ll also be happy to hear that Ricardo Zepeda has been officially cleared as a suspect.”
Haley wondered whether Luke Justice now sat in the same cell that Zepeda had once occupied. “I’m sorry I was mistaken about seeing him in the woods that day.”
Victor dismissed her apology with a hand wave. “Not your fault.”
Haley could have argued that point but decided she didn’t want to spend any more time rehashing the faultiness of eyewitness testimony.
“You were spot-on about John Ramirez,” Victor continued, as if correctly identifying one guilty party excused her for implicating an innocent citizen.
“Did you arrest him?”
“Yes. The Lane County Sheriff’s Office used the information you gave us to set up a sting early this morning. With the help of the authorities in Washington State, they caught him on his way to Oregon. They found enough marijuana in his truck to hold him on drug-trafficking charges.”
“I don’t think I can put him in the woods that day,” she admitted, still unable to make her mental images of the Moreno’s truck driver and the man in the woods jibe. Apparently her brain was much more susceptible to evil influence than she ever would have guessed before the events of the past five weeks.
“We have enough physical evidence to prosecute Ramirez regardless,” Victor informed her.
His words made her feel thirty pounds lighter. She was thrilled that the key players in the drug organization were finally in the process of being punished.
“We seized over one hundred mature plants from Jenna’s basement, and about the same number of immature ones,” Victor continued. “From the looks of the setup there, the indoor operation was new. The grow room seemed rather makeshift.”
“After I stumbled upon their inventory in the woods, Luke moved what he could over to Jenna’s house before donning his police hat and confiscating the rest as evidence,” Haley said.
“That fits with our conclusions. The supplies in Jenna’s spare bedroom matched up with Owen Moreno’s missing inventory. Not everything was there, of course, as some stuff had already been used, but the items we could trace originated from his store.”
“Jenna and John Ramirez took what they needed from Moreno’s to facilitate the transition from an outdoor to an indoor operation.”
Victor nodded. “They’d stolen fertilizer and pesticides from Moreno’s for years but ramped up the thefts once they had to relocate their operation.”
“Is Owen going to be reimbursed for what they stole?”
“It’s doubtful. Most of those items are now in police custody. But at least he won’t need to worry about his shrinkage problem anymore.”
Haley grinned. “I’m sure he’s happy about that.”
Victor chuckled. “I’m sure he is.”
They sat in silence for a while, the ticking of Victor’s wall clock the only sound in the room. Haley hoped Owen would eventually grow to forgive Jenna for her betrayal, if not for her sake than for his. He obviously thought of his staff as family, and she didn’t want to see him losing his charming small-town naïveté over one bad employee.
Victor sighed. “Haley, I should tell you I had a sample of the cannabis tested for pesticides.”
Haley’s breath caught, all thoughts concerning Owen Moreno evaporating from her mind. After she had explained the marijuana’s role in her fiancé’s death, Victor had evidently taken it upon himself to either verify her suspicions or discredit her story. She wasn’t sure which.
“And?” she asked now.
“And the lab’s findings were consistent with what you reported of your own sample.”
Haley’s stomach dropped. The news was what she had expected, but hearing the words out loud still hit her like a physical blow.
“I spoke with the D.A. about pressing manslaughter charges against the group,” Victor said.
Haley leaned forward. “And?”
Victor’s eyes softened. “And he doesn’t think the charges would stick. It’s all circumstantial.”
Haley slumped back in her seat, feeling hollow. She wanted so badly to see the drug organization punished for their neglect.
“But,” Victor continued, “given the amount of drugs confiscated from the woods and Jenna’s, the two surviving members will still face substantial charges.”
Haley nodded. She wasn’t happy about it, but it would have to suffice.
Besides, she reminded herself, did it really matter what charges kept Luke Justice and John Ramirez behind bars? They were off the streets and no longer able to sell their product to others. Michael’s death hadn’t been in vain. She had to take comfort from that.
“We received the autopsy report on Jenna this morning too,” Victor said.
The blood drained from Haley’s head. Although she’d protected herself in self-defense, whenever she remembered her role in killing a woman she felt sick.
“She was strangled to death,” Victor continued.
“Strangled?” Her gaze snapped toward his. “But I never even touched her.”
“Strangled by Luke,” Victor said.
Haley took a minute to process that. Jenna must have still been alive when Luke had gone into the house, supposedly to check on her before the paramedics arrived. With her involvement in the organization exposed, he must have considered her to be a liability and decided to finish her off. Then he’d never have to worry about her turning on him if she opted to cut a deal with the authorities.
Victor swiveled in his chair, his face tight. Everything that had transpired recently had to be weighing on the police chief too. Not only was this the biggest case he’d ever handled, but his employee and friend had turned out to be one of the key culprits.
“Luke gave Jenna that gun, didn’t he?” Haley said.
“That’s a reasonable conclusion. Luke hasn’t admitted to anything, of course.”
“She didn’t want to, you know. Shoot me, I mean.” Haley’s heart twisted over Jenna’s wasted life. “Her hesitation saved me.”
“Jenna always had a good heart. Her involvement in the drug ring didn’t change that.”
If Jenna hadn’t had a heart, Haley would probably be dead now. And if Luke had had a heart, Jenna would probably still be alive right now.
Unbidden, the image of Luke’s hands crushing Jenna’s throat popped into her head. She shivered. She’d come so close to becoming another one of his victims.
“I never properly thanked you for rescuing me Monday,” Haley said to Victor. “Without you, I might have been strangled too.”
“Just doing my job.”
“You saved my life.”
Victor shook his head. “You saved your own life.”
“I just instigated a little commotion.” She still felt guilty whenever she thought about how she’d traumatized poor Jane in order to alert the police chief to the situation in Luke’s bathroom. “You were the one who followed the noise and freed me.”
Victor offered her a wan smile. “How is Jane handling everything?”
“She’s coping. It helped that Timmy made her her very own pot roast yesterday. She’d gobbled down the whole thing by this afternoon.”
Victor laughed. “And now she’ll refuse to touch the leftover scraps she used to love, no doubt.”
Haley smiled. “If I have to buy her a pot roast every day for the rest of her life, I’ll gladly do so.”
Victor smirked, then sobered. “She’s lucky to have you.”
Haley studied him, realization dawning. “You’re a cat person.”
“Does that surprise you?” he asked.
She shrugged. She couldn’t explain why, but this small fact made her happy.
Victor tilted back in his chair. “I apologize for having to confiscate the carrier so soon after your ordeal Monday.”
“I understand. It’s now police evidence.”
“Still, Jane seemed rather distraught when you stuffed her inside the cage Mindy brought.”
“That’s because it smells like Pomeranian. She’s not a big fan.”
Victor regarded her. “How long will you be staying at Mindy’s?”
“Just for another day or so.” Her stomach did flip-flops whenever she thought about returning to her own house, but she knew eventually she would have to come to terms with what had happened there two days ago.
“You know, this is a small town,” Victor said. “We take care of our own. Mindy will let you stay however long you need to.”
Haley pictured poor Jane hissing from behind Mindy’s sofa as Mindy’s three small dogs attempted to coax her out. “If I stay any longer, I’m pretty sure Jane will smother me in my sleep.”
“Remembering how much of a stink she put up two days ago, I’m positive that cat can take care of herself.”
“I owe her.” Haley paused, then looked at Victor, dissatisfied by his earlier dismissal of her thank-you. “And you.”
Victor lifted one shoulder. “If you hadn’t handed over that information on John Ramirez when you had, I may not have known you were in danger until it was too late.”
“But you did know. That means a lot to me.”
Victor ran his fingers through his hair. “When I saw that frontal shot of his face in your BlackBerry, I finally understood why his name sounded familiar.”
“You recognized him as the person you questioned six years ago.”
“The person Luke questioned.” Victor frowned. “Luke was so eager to prove himself that he had already conducted the entire interview before he even notified me of the situation. When I realized the Moreno’s driver was that same man, I remembered how my reprimands had upset Luke.”
Haley wondered if that incident six years ago had marked the turning point for Officer Luke Justice, when he’d decided there was no reason to limit his ambitions to lawful endeavors. Maybe he even figured that partnering with John Ramirez would be a crafty way of getting even with his boss.
“Once I put together the connection with Ramirez,” Victor continued, “it seemed a little too convenient that Luke, Jenna, and Ramirez all knew each other. Given how close Luke and Jenna were in high school, I figured I should check on you. I visited under the guise of returning your BlackBerry.”
“I’m glad you did. You very likely saved my life.”
Victor sighed, evidently immune to her gratitude. “Haley, I want to apologize for how I handled your eyewitness statement.”
She blinked, startled that he would take responsibility for that. “It wasn’t your fault. Luke used you just as he did me.”
“But I should have known better. And in a way, you were right the first time. I did want Ricardo convicted. That obscured my ability to see some of the facts clearly. I should have realized earlier that Luke was setting Ricardo up to take the blame.”
“You trusted Luke. That’s not a bad thing.”
Victor laughed, but the sound lacked any mirth. “I trusted my wife too, and look what happened.”
Haley’s heart ached. “You can’t blame yourself, Victor.”
“Of course I can. As the chief of police, it’s my responsibility to make sure I base everything I do on hard facts.”
He stood up and went over to the window. Haley studied his profile, noting the strong outline of his jaw and the way his hair fell over his forehead. She was startled to realize that Victor Lamb was actually a very attractive man.
He turned then, catching her staring at him. She felt her cheeks redden.
“I breached protocol with how I handled you,” he said.
Haley thought back to her original suspicions concerning Victor’s corruption. “Why did it take you so long to interview me anyway?”
“Jurisdictional issues. The Lane County Sheriff’s Office would normally handle a drug case like this, but they were taking too long to free up the necessary personnel. We ended up volleying responsibility back and forth for a while before they finally agreed to delegate some authority to me.”
Haley nodded. “And at that point, you followed up on my witness statement.”
“That’s no excuse for the delay, but yes. If this had gone the other way, you would have talked to somebody from Lane County that day.” Victor took a deep breath. “I should also apologize for being so short when you suggested questioning the local drug users. At the time, I was still rather sensitive about having my authority undermined.”
“That’s okay.”
“When Lane County officially turned over the whole case, that’s when we started looking at Ricardo.”
Haley tried to imagine how things might have turned out if Lane County had taken charge. Would Luke still have been able to tamper with the evidence? Would she have ever seen that composite of Zepeda?
She slumped in her seat. “I never should have looked at that sketch.”
“I never should have shown it to you,” Victor parried.
“I asked you to. And then I fingered the wrong man because of it.”
Victor leaned against the window. “You’re not to blame.”
“Neither are you.”
Victor rotated sideways to stare at something outside. “Haley, I should tell you that I’m resigning from the force.”
Haley’s chest tightened. “Victor, Luke fooled you as much as he did me.”
“My mind is made up. When someone in my position starts letting their own personal agenda drive an investigation, it’s time for them to step down.” He offered her a half grin that didn’t meet his eyes. “If it helps, just think of my resignation as me retiring from the Sobaco force—only without the typical retirement benefits.”
Haley’s throat went dry. She couldn’t think of anything to say.
Although, in a way, she knew he was right. If his single-minded focus to see Zepeda punished hadn’t blinded him, Luke never would have managed to manipulate him so easily.
And absent Haley’s single-minded focus to see Michael’s suppliers punished, she wouldn’t have been as susceptible to the crooked officer’s deceit either.
“You’re too young to retire.” Haley attempted a smile, but her lips refused to move. Her heart felt like a stone in her chest.
“It’s more a decision of competence than age.”
“What will you do instead?”
“For starters, I intend to move.” He paused. “Tracy’s leaving me, you know.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Our relationship ended a long time ago. I just didn’t want to see it. After everything that’s happened with Ricardo, she finally acknowledges how much she loves the man.”
Haley couldn’t think of anything to say except how sorry she was, so she didn’t say anything at all.
Victor straightened away from the window. “It’s for the best that we both move on. Neither one of us is happy the way things are.”
“Maybe what you need is a fresh start.”
Victor’s lips twitched. “In a new town?”
She laughed. “I guess I’m not the expert when it comes to that method of coping.”
“But there is some merit to the suggestion. In fact, I believe I’d like Portland. Have you ever been there?”
“Briefly. But just driving through.”
“It’s a wonderful city.” A wistful look passed across his face. “Tracy’s family lives there. We’ve visited many times.”
Victor and Haley locked eyes. She wasn’t sure what passed between them then, but she would probably label it as a mutual understanding.
After a long moment elapsed, the silence started to feel awkward. Haley coughed to give herself an excuse to look away. “Well, Victor, I hope it’s a good move for you.”
“Thank you, Haley.”
“You’re welcome, Victor.”
* * *
Nexus Warren did identify an unfortunate soul to share responsibility of the MIT account: Haley’s coworker Jerry. An hour after she left the police station, her boss called her to relay the news.
“Jerry’s eager to dive into a new project,” Nexus said.
Haley grimaced. The poor guy had no idea what he was in for.
But, recalling her breach of confidentiality, Haley had no doubt that Jerry would serve their client better than she had.
She took a deep breath, fortifying herself for what she needed to confess now. “Nexus, I have to tell you something about MIT.”
“Better yet, why don’t you tell Jerry. He’s ready to get his hands dirty.”
“It’s not about the project. It concerns my confidentiality agreement.”
Silence descended. She knew Nexus was remembering their conversation from Monday.
Haley’s voice quavered when she spoke next. “I had no choice but to hand the MIT information over to the police.”
“We all have choices.”
She shivered, remembering how she’d said those exact words to Jenna McArthur right before she smashed a pot against her skull. She knew that, metaphorically, Nexus was about to do the same to her career.
“You could have waited for the police to approach MIT like I suggested,” Nexus continued, his tone cold.
“I could have.” But of course that would have meant a delay she wasn’t willing to incur.
“You know, I have to let you go because of this.”
Haley nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. Even if he were personally willing to grant her some leeway over the violation, the company’s no-tolerance policy when it came to breaching client confidentiality wouldn’t allow it.
“Human Resources will coordinate the fact-finding discussion to capture the exact information you released.” Nexus hesitated, then added, “They’ll also handle the severance.”
“I’ll expect a call from them.” Haley felt more hollow than devastated. Somehow, losing her job seemed like a fitting conclusion to everything that had happened since Michael’s death.
“If you need a job reference, I hope you’ll still consider me,” Nexus said, his voice softer now.
“I will. You’ve been very generous.”
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”
Things had worked out exactly the way Haley had wanted when she’d first proposed her move to Sobaco, but Nexus didn’t need to know that. He didn’t need to know that if she could go back in time, she would violate company policy again in a heartbeat.
She cleared her throat. “Nexus, thank you, for everything you’ve done for me.”
“You’re welcome, Haley.”
